Saturday, Day 112 - Apr 28 - 8 to 6, Santos, Brazil

Should we journey inland to vibrant São Paulo and see its modern skyscrapers and monuments, and visit the beautiful art museum or explore charming Santos and its extraordinary Botanical Garden including an Orchidarium with over 100 flower species and an aviary alive with macaws, toucans and parrots? Santos was founded in 1546 by a Portuguese nobleman, Bras Cubas.  The exportation of coffee from the port gave rise to the wealth of the city at the turn of  the 20th century. Santos is the home of the Coffee Museum where coffee prices were once negotiated and the largest beach front garden listed in the Guinness Book Of Records. We can also take a scenic drive to Guaruja and visit the resort town's fascinating aquarium. We were here in 2011 and were not too impressed with the city of Santos. The main reason for the stop is the trip into Sao Paulo. It is a long, seven hour, bus ride for a drive around the city in heavy traffic and lunch. We passed in 2011 and do so again this time.

Carolyn did sign us up for the Guaruja Beach Transfer, a five hour trip to the resort town of Guaruja. The main draw, according to the tour write up, is Guaruja feels like an oasis amid the urban sprawl of Santos. Beaches are its primary draw, and there are plenty of shops and restaurants to enjoy. There would be about three hours of free time, but we decide we are not into “a lazy stroll on the beach watching the surfers cut through the waves” or a beach front lunch stop. Two hours on the bus for three hours on an unknown beach just doesn’t appeal anymore.

We do however have a leisurely morning and talk with the tourist person on board who gives us a map and marks out a little tour we can do ourselves from the mall or port by taxi. We take the shuttle bus to the mall. Dick needs some new tan socks...he has worn a hole in both pairs he brought on the trip. On the way to the mall the town looks interesting and clean so after we do the shopping we get a taxi to drive us along the beach front and garden area and then to the old down town area. The plan was to ride the restored street car around the historic part. Unfortunately, the street car has broken down on a tour this morning and they are not sure when it will start again. It does look like a neat thing to do. We walk around just a little. There is a museum next to the street car pick up stop. It is the middle of the day and too hot to do much walking so Dick finds a taxi and we head back to the ship.

 Modern Mall nice stores and food court

 Beach area

 City Center and Old Town with Street Car Rails

 Port Area from Ship

Santos is worth a look just for the pretty beach front walk and the old town center with its rich colonial architecture. The ship doesn’t offer any tours that feature just that though. But, taxis are cheap and a DIY tour is easy to do with the tourist map provided by the local people on the ship.

We have lunch upstairs on the deck and have a lazy afternoon and evening. Since tomorrow will be so busy in Rio, Jamie holds the church service at 5PM. There are not as many people as usual. But that is not too surprising since it is at a different time. Afterwards we go listen to Clive play and then on to dinner and bed. The room is too warn again, but we are not sure they care anymore. They do have the rest of the ship finally at a comfortable temperature both in the lounges and the eating spots. But for some reason they are refusing to lower the temperature of the air entering the duct work the half to full degree C needed to bring our suite down to the 70-72 degrees F that they had it earlier.